


extracurricular activities

by The_Eclectic_Bookworm



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 02, also blatant unprofessionalism, but nothing as bad as. say. making out on campus, some good old-fashioned calendiles fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 01:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18729238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Eclectic_Bookworm/pseuds/The_Eclectic_Bookworm
Summary: In which Giles makes some unexpected compromises to his once-rigid worldview, Jenny is probably a lot more smitten than Giles realizes, and the Scoobies provide what they seem to think is helpful commentary.(set at some point in early s2, before The Dark Age.)





	extracurricular activities

“You’re taking her to the _science fair?_ ” came Buffy’s voice from behind Giles. “No offense, Giles, but have you _ever_ taken a woman on a date before?”

“I fail to see how this is any of your concern,” said Giles thinly, grateful that he was facing away from the children; he was rather certain that he was blushing. “Besides which, as faculty, we’re both required to attend the science fair, so—” Belatedly, he added, “And it’s not a date.”

“You,” said Xander, pulling himself up to sit on the counter as Giles turned to look at him, “Ms. Calendar, walking around the school talking science. That sounds _exactly_ like the kind of date you guys would have.”

“Xander, you’re not to sit on the counter like that, I need to put these books down,” said Giles, who hoped to God he wasn’t blushing.

Xander hopped down obligingly. Willow, who had been perusing a book for most of this conversation, giggled a little and finally said, “You guys would make such a cute couple, Giles! It _should_ be a date.”

“Didn’t you take her to the football game last time?” Buffy was grinning mischievously. “Maybe you should consider somewhere that _isn’t_ your place of work.”

“You’re all being thoroughly ridiculous,” said Giles with exasperation. “We agreed to meet at the science fair, and she’s _supposed_ to be there supervising some of the computer club students anyway—”

“Hold on,” said Buffy, eyes wide. “Giles, are you going to be hanging with the _computer kids_ at the science fair?”

“Giles,” Xander chimed in, “didn’t you say that the computer kids were ‘everything wrong with over-dedication to a pointless cause’ or something extra British like that?”

“Giles,” Willow added, very clearly attempting to bite back a smile, “doesn’t Ms. Calendar know more than _anyone_ how much you hate computers?”

“And your point is?” said Giles long-sufferingly.

“If she didn’t know about your huge thing for her before this,” Buffy concluded with satisfaction, “there’s no _way_ she can miss it now.”

“I don’t—” This was a frustratingly good point. “That—” Giles put down the books, taking his glasses off to polish them.

“Aww, be nice to him,” Willow objected gently. “I think it’s sweet!”

“Yeah, definitely cuts down on the screaming arguments we can hear from down the hall,” Buffy quipped. At a look from Willow, she sighed dramatically. “ _Fine,_ ” she said, “I’ll stop! I just think it’s super funny that I’m not the only one who’s gotta deal with balancing dating and destiny.”

“We’re not dating,” said Giles weakly, “she’s just—”

As Giles was fumbling to discern what exactly Jenny was _just,_ Jenny herself strode into the library. “Hey, would you be okay with helping me set up some of the computers for the science fair tonight?” she asked. “I’m definitely not okay with asking one of the kids to stay after hours in a town like this.”

“The—” Damn it, Giles _was_ blushing, and it didn’t at all help that Jenny had done That Thing With Her Hair today. “Yes, of course,” he finally managed, more out of a desire to answer her question than out of actually knowing what on earth she’d asked him.

“Just to be clear.” Jenny was grinning. “ _You_ just agreed to help _me_ with _computers._ ”

“What?” Giles blinked, then winced. “I—did. Yes.”

“Great!” Jenny beamed. “See you tonight—just drop by with some extra extension cords, maybe a few monitors from the supply closet, and we can get started on the extra preparations.”

“What—”

“I  _really_ appreciate it, Rupert,” said Jenny, and gave him a genuinely grateful smile. “I’m the only person in the computer science department, and it’s a whole lot of work to pull together an entire section of the science fair all by myself. Thank you _so_ much.”

To borrow a phrase from the woman currently quite dear to his heart, Giles thought he might short-circuit at the way Jenny was looking at him right now. “Of course,” he said somewhat breathlessly. “Although I suspect you’ll have to put up with me not knowing what—what monitors are, and the like.”

Jenny bit her lip, smiling. “Kinda figured,” she said. “Mostly I just like having your company.”

Behind Giles, Xander wolf-whistled and Willow broke into a badly-muffled giggle fit. “Likewise,” said Giles, doing his damnedest to ignore the fact that Willow seemed to have fallen off her chair. “At some point, we should—attempt to steal some time _away_ from this campus,” he added, pitching his voice a little louder so that the children might hear him, and get the message.

They got the wrong one. “ _GILES!”_ Buffy objected loudly. “No one wants to know about your private time!”

Now Jenny was the one trying not to laugh. Giles resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands—which turned out to be quite a good thing. “Seriously,” she said. “Thank you,” and stepped neatly up to Giles, kissing him on the cheek _so_ quickly, and at such a clever angle, that it was all but impossible for the children to see.

“Well, I—that’s—” stammered Giles.

Jenny beamed, looking positively delighted with herself. Now _she_ was blushing. “See you then!” she said. “At the—in the lab! Later!” and walked backwards out of the library, very nearly colliding with the doorframe.

“Wow,” said Buffy. “Has anyone _ever_ seen Ms. Calendar smile like that?”

“Hey, Giles, can you distract her so that she doesn’t give us homework today?” Xander asked hopefully.

“ _No,_ Giles, don’t do that!” objected a distressed Willow. “Her assignments are so fun!”

As this devolved into friendly bickering regarding whether or not any kind of homework could actually be considered _fun,_ Giles leaned back against the checkout desk and tried to feel upset about the mess he had got himself into. Given that he was fairly certain he may have inadvertently flustered the unflusterable Jenny Calendar, _and_ that his cheek still tingled where she’d kissed him, it wasn’t really working all that well.

**Author's Note:**

> this has been in my wip folder for literally as long as i can remember, so i wrote an ending to it! because giles Absolutely Would be a whole lot less rigid about computers if he had good reason to (coughs: computer science girlfriend)


End file.
